Writing an essay (based on The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsey Fowler)
1. Types of essays:
a. a narrative essay - relates a sequence of events: a frightening or unhappy incident in your childhood, your mishaps on public transportation, the manoeuvres in a historical battle.
b. a descriptive essay - evokes a scene, person, object, emotion, or situation by concentrating on its distinguishing details: the features of a building, the look of a landscape, the manner and style of a friend, the feeling of being alone in a strange house at night.
c. an expository essay - the writer's primary purpose is to explain ("exposition" comes from a Latin word meaning "to explain"). Almost any topic is suitable for exposition, from how to avoid injury during weight training to the implications of a new discovery in computer science.
d. an argumentative essay - the purpose is to persuade the reader (using arguments for and / or against) or to present the writer's position on a debatable topic: a newspaper editorial favouring city-council reform, a magazine article urging mandatory seatbelt use.
Narration, description, exposition, and argumentation often overlap in an essay. For instance, in an expository essay intended to explain a chemical process, you might include a narrative paragraph telling the steps needed to start the process and a descriptive paragraph detailing the smells or colours of the chemicals.
Exercise: What type of essay is suitable for each of the following topics?
1. why a foreign language should be required in college
2. four kinds of rock music
3. the place where I feel most relaxed
4. how to find a trusty automobile mechanic
5. a vacation that was a comedy of errors
2. Developing the topic - generating the ideas and information that will help you achieve your purpose:
a. free writing
b. making a list
c. asking yourself a set of questions about your topic and writing down the answers
d. reading
3. Grouping ideas - after developing ideas about your topic, you may need to organize the ideas to see what you have; it helps you control and understand your topic and also helps you see your central theme and how specific ideas fit into it. To group ideas, you explore the relationships between them, connecting thoughts that may have occurred separately but that relate to the same aspect or subdivision of the topic.
4. Considering an audience - the basic purpose of all essay writing is to communicate ideas and information to readers. Readers are your audience. If they do not understand what they read or do not react the way you want, then you may be at fault. The chances are good that you have not considered carefully enough what the audience must be told in order to understand and to react appropriately.
5. Deciding on an appropriate role and tone - besides deciding what information your audience needs, you should also consider how you want to present yourself and your topic to readers - that is, how you want them to perceive both you and your attitude towards your topic. The possible roles are many and varied, including, for instance, storyteller, portrait painter, lecturer, guide, reporter, advocate, and inspirer. The choice of a role for yourself will depend partly on your purpose and partly on how you feel about your topic and expect your readers to feel about it. The role you choose will help determine what you say and also the way you say it - your tone. Tone in writing is like tone of voice in speaking: words and sentence structures on the page convey some of the same information about attitude as pitch and volume in the voice.
6. Developing the thesis - most essays are focused on and controlled by a single main idea that the writer wants to communicate to readers - a central theme to which all the general statements and specific information of the essay relate. This main idea, called the thesis, encompasses the writer's attitude towards the topic and purpose in writing.
a. conceiving the thesis sentence - a good way to develop your thesis is to frame it in a thesis sentence. As an expression of the thesis, the thesis sentence serves two crucial functions and one optional one:
- it narrows the topic to a single idea that you want readers to gain from your essay
- it asserts something about the topic, conveying your purpose, opinion, and attitude
- it may provide a concise preview of how you will arrange your ideas
Examples: 1. Topic: My city neighbourhood.
Thesis sentence: The main street of my neighbourhood contains enough variety to make almost any city dweller feel at home.
2. Topic: Why the federal government should aid college students.
Thesis sentence: If it hopes to win the technological race, the United States must make higher education possible for any student who qualifies academically.
2. Topic: A terrible moving experience.
Thesis sentence: The surest way to lose good friends is to enlist their help in a move from one fourth-floor walkup to another.
[a walkup (AmE) - a flat in a tall block with no lift]
b. writing and revising the thesis sentence - while doing this, check to be sure that it is:
- limited to an assertion of one idea
- specific in conveying both the reasons for the assertion and an attitude about it
- unified in that the parts relate to each other
Examples: 1. Original: People should not go on fad diets.
[A vague statement that needs limiting with one or more reasons: what's wrong with fad diets?]
Revised: Fad diets can be dangerous when they deprive the body of essential nutrients or rely on excessive quantities of potentially harmful foods.
[a fad diet - a diet of few or strange foods, often unsuccessful]
2. Original: Televised sports are different from live sports.
[A general statement that needs to be made more specific: how are they different, and why is the difference significant?]
Revised: Television cannot transmit all the excitement of being in a crowd during a game, but its close-ups and slow-motion replays more than compensate.
3. Original: Seatbelts can save lives, but now car makers may be required to install air bags.
[Not unified: how do the two parts of the sentence relate to each other?]
Revised: If drivers more often used life-saving seatbelts, the car makers might not be required to install air bags.
7. Organizing the essay:
a. making an outline:
Thesis sentence
I. main / central idea no. 1
a.
b. support
c.
II. main / central idea no. 2
a.
b. support
c.
III. main / central idea no. 3
a.
b. support
c.
b. checking for unity and coherence - an essay has unity if all parts support the thesis sentence and relate to each other. It has coherence if readers can see the relations and move easily from one thought to the next.
- to check your outline for unity, ask whether each primary division is relevant to the thesis sentence and whether, within major sections of the outline, each example or detail supports the main idea of that section. Don't be too hard on your information at this stage, but do cut anything that is clearly irrelevant and likely to sidetrack you during drafting.
- to check your outline for coherence, ask whether your arrangement of material suits both your purpose and your readers needs and whether readers are likely to recognize the shape of your material.
c. arranging the parts of an essay:
Topic / Title
1. Introduction
______________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________ thesis (sentence)
2. The body
______________________________________ ¶1 topic sentence
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
______________________________________ ¶2 topic sentence
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
______________________________________ ¶3 topic sentence
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
3. Conclusion
______________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
Example: Topic - A Year for America
Introduction - identification of problems
+ thesis: a proposal for solution
The body:
¶1 - explanation of the proposal
¶2 - support for the proposal: first advantage
¶3 - support for the proposal: second advantage
¶4 - support for the proposal: third advantage
¶5 - responses to probable objections
Conclusion - summary of how the plan would solve the problems identified in the introduction
d. composing paragraphs - whatever our purpose in writing and whatever our subject, we normally write in paragraphs, groups of related sentences set off by a beginning indention. In an essay the thesis sentence often announces the main idea. In a paragraph a topic sentence often alerts readers to the essence of the paragraph by stating the central idea and expressing the writer's attitude towards it. In the body of an essay each paragraph is likely to treat one part of the essay's thesis sentence; the topic sentences simply elaborate on parts of the thesis.
- focusing on the central idea - while planning a paragraph, concentrate on one main point.
- placing the topic sentence - in the most familiar arrangement the topic sentence comes first, which helps the writer maintain paragraph unity because the topic sentence provides a guide for selecting details in the rest of the paragraph. For readers the topic-first model establishes an initial context in which all the following details can be understood.
Examples: 1. For almost 30 years now, America has been systematically destroying the centres of her cities. (...)
[The author first states his opinion and then provides the information to support it.]
2. The two most expressive things about him were his mouth and the pockets of his jacket. (...)
3. Most people don't realize how difficult it is to work and go to school at the same time. (...)
In many paragraphs the opening sentence serves as a transition or bridge from the preceding paragraph, simultaneously pointing back to the previous idea and forward to a new one. The topic sentence is then often the second sentence, with the remaining sentences providing the support.
Example: 1. And, of course, it [science] is not like this at all. In real life, every field of science is incomplete, and most of them are still in their very earliest stages. (...)
- achieving paragraph coherence - a paragraph is unified if it holds together - if all its details and examples support the central idea. A paragraph is coherent if readers can see how the paragraph holds together without having to puzzle out the writer's reasons for adding each sentence. Each time readers must pause and reread to see how sentences relate to each other, they lose both comprehension and patience.
- checking length - the average paragraph contains between four and eight sentences. Very short paragraphs are often inadequately developed; they may leave readers with a sense of incompleteness. And very long paragraphs often contain irrelevant details or develop two or more topics; readers may have difficulty sorting out or remembering ideas.
- opening an essay - most essays open with a paragraph that draws readers from their world into the writer's world. An opening paragraph should focus readers' attention on the topic and arouse curiosity about what the writer has to say. It should be concise. It should specify what the writer will discuss and what his / her attitude is. It should be sincere. And it should be interesting. The safest kind of introduction opens with a statement of the essay's general subject, clarifies or limits the subject in one or more sentences, and then, in the thesis sentence, asserts the point of the essay.
Example: 1. We Americans are a clean people. We bathe or shower regularly and spend billions of dollars each year on soaps and deodorants to wash away or disguise our dirt and odor. Yet, cleanliness is a relatively recent habit with us. From the time of the Puritans until the turn of the twentieth century, bathing in the United States was rare and sometimes even illegal. [author - an American student]
Several other types of introduction can be equally effective, though they are sometimes harder to invent and control. One kind begins with a quotation that leads into the thesis. Another kind of introduction opens by relating an incident that sets the stage for the thesis. An introduction may also start with an opinion, preferably a startling one that will grab the readers' attention.
Example: 1. Caesar was right. Thin people need watching. I've been watching them for most of my adult life, and I don't like what I see. (...) All of them are dangerous.
When writing an opening paragraph, avoid the following approaches that are likely to bore readers or make them question your sincerity or control:
1. Don't start with "The purpose of this essay is...", "In this essay I will...".
2. Don't refer to the title of the essay in the first sentence "This is my favourite activity...", "This is an interesting problem...".
3. Don't start with "According to Webster...".
4. Don't apologize for your opinion or for inadequate knowledge of your subject with "I'm not sure if I'm right, but I think...".
- closing an essay - Most essays end with a closing statement or conclusion, a signal to readers that the writer has not simply stopped writing but has actually finished. The conclusion completes the essay, bringing it to a climax while assuring readers that they have understood the writer's intention. Usually set off in its own paragraph, the conclusion may consist of a single sentence or a group of sentences. It may summarize the evidence presented in the essay, restate the thesis with a fresh emphasis, suggest a course of actions, ask a question, strike a note of hope or despair, introduce a startling fact, quote an authority, or tell an anecdote.
Example: 1. Thus changed attitudes and advances in plumbing finally freed us to bathe whenever we want. Perhaps partly to make up for our ancestors' bad habits, we have transformed that freedom into a national obsession.
[The writer summarizes her essay and then echoes her introduction by proposing a link between the habits of history and the habits of today.]
8. Writing the first draft.
9. Making corrections to the paragraphs, revising sentences, linking or separating sentences, counting the number of words (if there is a limit).
10. Writing the second draft.
11. Checking grammar, the use of appropriate words, word forms, spelling, punctuation.
12. Writing the final version of the essay.
Style & Structure (based on Style and Structure by David Rankin)
1. Style and word choice:
a. Economy (avoiding wordiness):
Good writing says what it has to say in the fewest words possible. Every word must contribute to the meaning of a sentence. Conversely, no word should merely repeat an idea that has been expressed or suggested by another word. Wordiness can also result from the use of empty phrases that add nothing but words to a sentence. One of the most common of these phrases is "the fact that". Often a wordy sentence can be made more economical by altering the sentence structure.
Original: Space technology has advanced forward rapidly since the launching of Sputnik I.
Revised: Space technology has advanced rapidly since the launching of Sputnik I.
Original: A portable radio that can be carried about is convenient for trips to the beach.
Revised: A portable radio is convenient for trips to the beach.
Original: Owing to the fact that Gloria is the best dancer, she has been given the solo part in the ballet.
Revised: Because Gloria is the best dancer, she has been given the solo part in the ballet.
Original: The United States, in the years since 1945, has seen enormous growth in its responsibilities for the welfare of other nations of the world.
Revised: The international responsibilities of the United States have grown enormously since 1945.
b. Simplicity (avoiding jargon):
The attempt to impress rather than to communicate often produces inflated prose.
Original: It is imperative that the firm should escalate its involvement in the several levels of research activity regarding the employment of the latest production techniques.
Revised: The firm must study methods of production.
Original: Individuals characterized by common patterns of behaviour tend to establish societal organizations among themselves.
Revised: Similar people tend to group together.
c. Candour (avoiding euphemisms):
A writer who is reluctant to say what is on his mind sometimes resorts to euphemisms - refined or elegant terms substituted for more candid speech. Of course, euphemisms are occasionally required for politeness or tact. Calling someone "fat" instead of "stout" is not the best way to preserve cordial relations.
Original: Several intoxicated persons were observed at the assembly of customer-contact personnel.
Revised: Several drunks were seen at the sales meeting.
d. Freshness (avoiding clichés):
A style can be clear, simple and direct, and yet lack one quality that practised readers expect - freshness and originality. Clichés are words and expressions that have been used so often that, like old coins, they have lost their edge.
Original: John was the picture of health as he appeared before us at the break of day.
Revised: John looked very healthy as he appeared before us in the morning.
Exercise: Rewrite the sentences below using plain, straightforward English. Be on the lookout for wordiness, jargon, euphemisms, and clichés:
1. Mr Holmes is an expert judge and critic in terms of music and art.
2. He is a man who needs to work hard.
3. In spite of the fact that the airport was covered by a blanket of fog, the pilot of the airplane decided to land.
4. In many cases, unnecessary accidents could be largely prevented by greater alertness.
5. Paula looked as light as a feather in her new gown.
6. Existence aboard the early sailing vessels that transported Columbus across the briny deep was no bed of roses.
7. Though the stereo units differ in style and price, all of them have the same basic components that they are made of.
2. Casual, standard and formal styles:
casual ---> formal
Original: In the beginning, to make matters worse, I simply did not know what was happening.
Revised: My difficulties were increased by my initial inability to comprehend the nature of the situation.
formal ---> casual
Original: Once this disease is contracted, one can never be really carefree again, for the fever, without an instant's warning, can recur at any moment.
Revised: Once you get this disease, you can never relax and enjoy yourself because the fever can hit you again at any time, with no warning at all.
3. Coordination:
The most common coordinators are: and, but, or, so, because, since, as, for, however, yet, though, although, nor.
Original: Once this disease is contracted, one can never be really carefree again, for the fever, without an instant's warning, can recur at any moment.
Revised: Once this disease is contracted, one can never be really carefree again. For the fever, without an instant's warning, can recur at any moment.
Revised: Once this disease is contracted, one can never be really carefree again; the fever, without an instant's warning, can recur at any moment.
Original: I knew about the South, of course, and about how Southerners treated Negroes and how they expected them to behave, but it never entered my mind that anyone would look at me and expect me to behave that way.
Revised: I knew about the South, of course. But it never entered my mind that anyone would look at me, treat me the way Southerners treated Negroes, and expect me to behave the way Negroes were expected to behave.
Revised: It never entered my mind that anyone would look at me, treat me as a Negro, and expect me to behave the way Southerners expected a Negro to behave. Yet I knew what Southerners expected. And, of course, I knew about the South.
4. Integrating information:
Original: The boy was alone. He was bruised. He walked slowly towards the house.
Revised: Alone, the bruised boy walked slowly towards the house.
Revised: Slowly, the bruised boy walked towards the house alone.
Revised: Bruised and alone, the boy walked slowly towards the house.
Revised: The boy walked towards the house slowly, bruised and alone.
(using coordination)
Original: The boy was alone. He was bruised. He walked slowly towards the house.
Revised: The boy walked slowly towards the house, for he was bruised and alone.
Revised: The boy was bruised and alone, yet he walked slowly towards the house.
Revised: The boy was bruised but alone, so he walked slowly towards the house.
(using verb clusters)
Original: The child entered the yard. He was crying loudly. He ran to his mother. He climbed into his mother's lap.
Revised: The child entered the yard, crying loudly, and ran to his mother, climbing into her lap.
Revised: Crying loudly, the child entered the yard, ran to his mother, and climbed into her lap.
Revised: Entering the yard, the child cried loudly, but he ran to his mother, climbing into her lap.
Revised: Entering the yard, the child cried loudly, and, running to his mother, climbed into her lap.
5. Repetition:
a. for emphasis:
Original: Perhaps the main guiding principle of modern architecture is economy: economy of material, economy of means, economy of expression.
b. unnecessary:
Original: He would fight to the limit of endurance to defend it, because in defending it, he was defending everything that gave his own life its deepest meaning.
Revised: He would fight to the limit of endurance to defend it, because in doing so, he was protecting everything that gave his own life its deepest meaning.
Original: John is still searching for a book, a book that begins like no other book he has read.
Revised: John is still searching for a book, a volume that begins like no other novel he has read.
Exercise: Revise the sentences avoiding repetition:
1. Among the many advantages of a college education is the advantage of being educated to compete for a good job.
2. The biggest reason why she won't come to the party is the reason that she doesn't own any good clothes.
3. When Charlie goes to the game, his father takes him to the game and his father brings him home from the game.
4. I share your beliefs because I believe that your convictions are similar to mine.
6. Noun suffocation:
There is no limit, grammatically, to the number of modifiers you may use with a noun. You can go on stacking them up before and after a noun as long as you have patience and ingenuity. But you are likely to exhaust your reader's patience and understanding in the process. In the sentence below, the head noun "runway" is virtually buried in an avalanche of words.
Original: The large, streamlined airplane landed on the rather short, very narrow, wet, slick runway that was covered by the extremely dense fog that came in early yesterday.
Revised: The airplane, which was large and streamlined, landed on the slick, wet runway covered by the extremely dense fog that came in early yesterday. The runway was rather short and very narrow.
Do not put participle clauses between articles or quantifiers and nouns - this is grammatically incorrect.
Original: All wishing to compete people should first register here. [incorrect!!!]
Revised: All people wishing to compete should first register here.
Original: The bringing us milk boy has been ill. [incorrect!!!]
Revised: The boy who brings us milk has been ill.
Original: The feeling tired man went to bed early. [incorrect!!!]
Revised: Feeling tired, the man went to bed early.
Of course, it doesn't mean that you can't use participles in front of nouns.
Original: It was a really tiring day.
The sinking ship was a horrifying sight.
Look at that broken window!
7. Faulty parallelism:
Original: He likes hiking and to swim.
Revised: He likes hiking and swimming / to hike and to swim.
Original: Brian is intelligent, tolerant, and has patience.
Revised: Brian is intelligent, tolerant, and patient.
Original: Andrew played the game boldly, aggressively, and he showed courage.
Revised: Andrew played the game boldly, aggressively, and courageously.
Original: Last night we saw a movie lasting for four hours and that had a long intermission.
Revised: Last night we saw a movie that lasted for four hours and that had a long intermission.
Original: Mike is not only skilled as a mechanic, but also in music.
Revised: Mike is not only skilled as a mechanic, but also as a musician.
Original: The gym teacher warned Tom that he was missing too many classes and he needed to make up several assignments.
Revised: The gym teacher warned Tom that he was missing too many classes and that he needed to make up several assignments.
8. Adverbial modifiers:
(with no change in meaning)
Original: Edward regularly looked at his watch.
Edward looked regularly at his watch.
Edward looked at his watch regularly.
(with a change in meaning)
Original: People that frequently complain lose their friends.
People that complain lose their friends frequently.
Frequently, people that complain lose their friends.
9. Ambiguity:
Original: Last summer I met a man with a moustache that was charming.
Revised: Last summer I met a man with a moustache who was charming. [still awkward]
Revised: Last summer I met a man with a moustache which was charming. [still awkward]
Revised: Last summer I met a charming man with a moustache.
Revised: Last summer I met a man with a charming moustache.
Exercise: Discuss ambiguity in the following sentences:
1. The old car thief was caught driving away in a 1929 Ford.
2. We heard a lecture on the raising of flowers by a soft coal miner.
3. Mr Simpson and Mr Williams have been big business and finance partners for the past twenty years.
4. The leaves on the trees that are shaking will fall soon and make a thick carpet of colour.
5. He came home with a friend with a dog that was hungry.
6. The kitten in the box that needed attention is white with little black spots.
7. The man in the Rolls-Royce that looks powerful and elegant is trying to attract my attention.
8. He went away accompanied by a Siamese cat with a smile on his face.
10. Faulty passive:
When there is no compelling reason to use the passive, a writer should always put the active agent in the subject position. Writing is usually more vigorous and direct when most sentences show someone or something doing the action. So it is a good practice to check every passive sentence you have written to see whether it would be more direct in the active form. Expressions like "it must be understood" usually sound too formal, even stuffy, in everyday writing.
Original: The manifesto was read twice by me before it was understood.
Revised: I read the manifesto twice before I understood it.
11. Sentence connectors:
a. to compare:
also in the same way similarly |
|
b. to contrast:
although and yet as opposed to but but at the same time despite even though however in contrast in spite of |
nevertheless nonetheless on the contrary on the other hand regardless of still though unlike yet |
c. to add or show sequence:
again also and and then anyhow anyway besides equally important finally first firstly furthermore in addition |
in the first place last lastly moreover next on top of (all) that second secondly still to make matters worse too what's more
|
d. to illustrate or emphasize:
actually after all an illustration of as a matter of fact even for example for instance frankly (speaking) indeed in fact |
no matter of course so to speak specifically that is the truth is to be (quite) honest / truthful to illustrate to tell (you) the truth
|
e. to show cause or effect:
as as a result because because of consequently due to hence in consequence |
otherwise owing to since so that's why then therefore thus |
f. to indicate time:
after after a while afterwards as long as as soon as at last at once at present at that time before by the time currently earlier formerly for now for the time being immediately in the meantime in the past lately later |
meanwhile now now that only then presently recently shortly simultaneously since so far soon subsequently the minute the moment then till until until now when whenever while |
g. to repeat, summarize, or conclude:
all in all altogether as has been said basically in brief in conclusion in other words in particular in short |
in simpler terms in summary on the whole that is therefore to cut a long story short to put it differently to summarize to sum up |